Are you suffering from constant bloating, stomach pain, diarrhoea, constipation, reflux, and excessive flatulence? All while feeling exhausted, losing your hair, constantly brain fogged, and suffering anxiety or depression?
The role of gut health in autoimmune conditions
According to the research of paediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Alessio Fasano, gut health and autoimmune diseases—including Hashimoto’s—go hand in hand.
The perfect storm
He discovered the “three-legged stool of autoimmunity”, which consists of
- Genetic predisposition
- A triggering event (e.g. stress)
- Intestinal permeability (see our article on Have You Got a Leaky Gut?)
The gut has several major roles, not only in digesting and absorbing the nutrients from the food we eat, but it is also responsible for helping the immune system to recognise foreign invaders and keep them out. 80% of our immune system is in our gut.
He explains that genetic predisposition on its own for example is not enough. Your genes have to be expressed (or turned on) by a triggering event. If you already have intestinal permeability (i.e. a leaky gut) due to any number of unfortunate events, you then have the perfect storm to create an unwanted inflammatory and autoimmune response.
What is leaky gut?
When the cells lining your gut become red and inflamed, it leads to the formation of small holes in the intestine. These small holes allow partially undigested food, wastes, bacteria, and toxins to escape from the gut and enter the blood stream.
Those toxic substances cause systemic inflammation in the body. Your body begins to attack the intruders, and this eventually leads to an over reaction resulting in autoimmunity, such as Hashimoto’s, Graves’ Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis), coeliac disease, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes.
So, our aim is to correct a leaky gut at the beginning of the healing journey. If we can reverse leaky gut, we can prevent or reverse autoimmunity.
How do we reverse leaky gut?
We can help you with this at BNWC. Put in the most basic terms, it is a four-step process, but not necessarily a linear one. We:
- begin by eliminating inflammatory substances such as gluten, dairy, soy, and grains for a period of four weeks;
- supplement with enzymes;
- balance the gut;
- nourish the gut.
Book a consultation today
We are here to work with you through this autoimmune journey, because everyone deserves a chance to heal and live well. Call us at the clinic on 1300 03 03 25, or book online anytime.